INTRODUCTION
When writing this report a few things went through my mind…
1. How will I start it?
2. What will the key messages be?
3. What tone will I look to set?
4. How long should my report be?
5. How will I draw it to a conclusion?

Well…

1. I’ve sorted the start out…
this is it!
2. Key messages…
wow, so many to mention!
3. Tone…
You’ll find that out as we go on
4. How long…
All I can guarantee is you’ll be home for Saturday Kitchen!
5. Conclusion…
There’s plenty of time before I need to worry about that one!

I’ve taken some of my inspiration for my annual report from the recent survey and the key words that were used to describe Upton Cricket Club, those being “welcoming”, “friendly”, “inclusive” and “family”. I think they sum up very nicely what we are about as a club and I’ll draw back these as we progress through the evening. I’ll draw reference to Phil Defreitas, former England international who sent me a message after the Hot Pot where he said, “You have a fantastic club and the members are a credit to the club. I’m so impressed with the club.” – quite an endorsement indeed, and sometimes we don’t always realise and appreciate what we have when we are so close to it.

Of course, these are all nice, fluffy words but we haven’t just arrived at these words by chance. The way this committee and those that have served before them have run the Club have developed this feeling and long may it continue. We are a Club who are well run. We do have structure. We do have plans, but most of all we have a Governing Committee with a desire to take this Club forward.

Four years into the role and the question has been posed to me a few times as to how long I intend to remain as Chairman. Well, when you look at the board, there are only 8 people who’ve served more than four years, so it’s not always a job that people are in for the long term. As it stands, there are two key factors in why I’m stood here now and looking forward to a fifth year…

1. I still have the passion and desire to help drive this Club forward, and
2. There’s still plenty to be done

Firstly, a quick recap that as a Governing Committee we are elected by you, the members to run this Club in a responsible and efficient manner based around three key principles:

1. Having a sound financial footing
2. Providing the right opportunities for our members to enjoy their cricket, and
3. Focussing on both the present time as well as ensuring we keep an eye on the long terms
Nothing new there, and not something I see changing as we are merely custodians of the Club for this moment in time but the decisions & plans we make today serve to ensure this Club is in a healthy position for many years to come.
Those principles were perfectly reflected by the awards we picked up back in October…

1. Clubmark re-accreditation
2. The Cheshire County Cricket League’s “Most improved Club”, and
3. Wirral Sports Forum “Sports club of the year”

Both very special awards that signify the tremendous work that is undertaken both on and off the pitch, and ones we should all be rightly proud of.

As we move forward throughout the evening, I’ll focus on each specific area of the club and draw in on the goals we set out as part of our five-year strategic plan as well as calling out some key highlights together with how that plan has evolved.

Before we move on, please allow me to offer my sincerest thanks for everybody that works so tirelessly to move this Club forward. It’s not just the fourteen people who sit on the Governing Committee, it’s those who fill the other offices we have elected tonight PLUS all the volunteers who put so much time in across a variety of roles. Without you, we wouldn’t be the Club we are, and long may that continue – thank you.

Now I appreciate that I publish updates each month which hopefully serve as a good vehicle for updating you, however this report is the ‘formal’ record of what has happened during 2018 and our upcoming plans for 2019 and beyond so let’s look at each area across the Club…

SENIOR CRICKET
Senior cricket has gone from strength to strength this year across all of our sides. Whilst we’ve always maintained a good core of players, the volume of new senior players who joined ahead of the 2018 season was phenomenal and not something I’d ever witnessed before. What I was extremely encouraged by was that most of these players sought us out rather than us having to go on a recruitment drive. In my mind this says a lot about us as a Club and a) the public view we hold, and b) what we have to offer.

So, how did this translate when the new mixed with the ‘old’ on the pitch as we look at what we set out to achieve this year in the Strategic Plan;

• 1st XI - To be competitive in CCCL Division One
 We definitely achieved that, but unfortunately promotion was not to be
• 2nd XI – Top half finish
 We definitely achieved that with promotion to the Premier Division secured
• 3rd XI – Challenge for the title
 We definitely achieved that by winning the league by a country mile
• 4th XI – Consolidate league position
 We definitely achieved that finishing in the highest position for a number of years

Whilst we didn’t set specific objectives for the Sunday 1st XI we laid down a general principle that they would “continue to offer ‘friendly’ cricket as well as providing the first taste of senior cricket for many of our promising junior players”. This was most definitely achieved with several juniors tasting senior cricket for the first time throughout the course of the season.

Thank you to all four Saturday captains; Tom, Tom, Ian & Ian – all of whom have done a fantastic job with their respective teams, plus John Winder who stands down after an accomplished stint as Sunday 1st XI captain as well as Paul Owen who continues to do a splendid job as Selection Chairman.

At this juncture we can look at the makeup of our players and how that compares to previous years.

• In total, 81 players played Saturday league cricket
• 64% of those players have played their junior cricket at the Club
• 83% of the core 1st XI players are home-grown

Comparing to 2017’s numbers they are pretty much there or thereabouts which demonstrates both the huge pool of players we have at our disposal and that the pathway from junior to senior cricket is as strong as ever.

Whilst we’ve seen shifts in the number of players in the specific age ranges, the overall percentage of players under the age of 40 has peaked this year at just over 75% of our players base. In an era when participation rates in cricket are declining (down by c.19% over the last decade) we don’t see that here at Upton, but we must stay ahead of the curve to ensure we maintain that healthy player base.

All in all, a pretty impressive 2018 season but certainly no grounds for complacency which is epitomised by the objectives we’ve set for 2019;

• 1st XI – Promotion to the CCCL 1st XI Premier Division
• 2nd XI – Consolidate their position in the CCCL 2nd XI Premier Division
• 3rd XI – Consolidate their position in the CCL Division A
• 4th XI – Mid table finish in CCL Division C West & continue
• Sunday 1st XI – as per 2018 but with the aim to introduce more Academy fixtures against other clubs

What encourages me year after year is the fact that whilst the 1st XI may be the ‘flagship’ team within this, or any club, it doesn’t matter which team you play for, you’re a player first and foremost for UPTON CRICKET CLUB. This was summed up nicely when I spoke with one of the new players recently who acknowledged that whilst they were plying their trade down the sides, they couldn’t quite believe how welcome they’d been made to feel by members and players across all the sides. No need to be surprised, this is Upton Cricket Club, this is how we do things, we are ONE CLUB!

JUNIOR CRICKET
Last year I introduced Matt Owen as the new Junior Cricket Chairman and whilst we set out specific objectives as part of our strategic plan (which I’ll touch on shortly), one of those objectives was to recruit a longer-term Junior Cricket Chairman as his appointment was for one year only. It’s a bit unusual to stand here and be happy about the fact that we DIDN’T achieve an objective, but I’m delighted to say that Matt has agreed to carry on for another year, thus we didn’t need to find his replacement.

With any change of leadership often comes some changes in the way things operated with the main one being the scrapping of the weekly training fees and replacing them with a one-off payment covering the entire season. Whilst there was initial concern from some quarters, these were soon quashed as we saw both the number of juniors and revenue increase from 2017 and some extremely positive feedback from the parents as to the new initiative.

What this also allowed was for Matt to concentrate on his coaching and the has continued to develop an extremely strong bunch of coaches. Encouragingly, we saw the coach base increase, and this is something Matt will be actively working on again for 2019. The time the coaches give up is invaluable and ever so important as the juniors are the lifeblood of the club and as you’ll have seen from the stats represented earlier, provide the vast majority of our players in our senior sides. To put it into perspective, this year we had a total of 136 children (73% boys/27% girls) take part in our Friday night sessions. Broken down by age groups, these were represented by;

These figures show a couple of things;
1. The strength in depth of the girls playing at the club which can only serve us well as they transition through the age groups and ultimately into Ladies cricket
2. The challenges we face with the drop off in numbers as the children progression through the ages

The second point is something clubs across the land face, but that’s not to say we aren’t trying to think of ideas to combat it.

Looking at what we set out to achieve this year in the Strategic Plan;

• To offer the best development pathway for the most promising junior players
 We achieved this through the ‘academy’ nets that were held for a select group of our most talented juniors.
• Recruit additional coaches to increase our coach base, plus get them qualified
 Achieved with four new additions to the coaching set-up
• To recruit a longer-term Junior Cricket Chairman
 Not achieved as Matt Owen has continued for another year

So, once again a very successful year in terms of what we set out to achieve.

Looking ahead to 2019 and the new objectives that have been set, there is a familiar feel to them as a lot of them are about doing more of the same and constantly trying to stay ahead of the game in an ever-challenging world.

My thanks go out to Matt and all the coaches and volunteers who do a tremendous amount of work not just on Friday nights and Sunday mornings, but throughout the week as they prepare for the sessions. Also, the atmosphere that is created on a Friday night make for a great social gathering for parents, guardians, grand parents and others to enjoy. A huge thanks to Charlie and his BBQ team plus Ian and the bar staff who work tirelessly to keep them all fed and watered.

LADIES CRICKET
I think it’s fair to say that Ladies cricket has been a very welcome addition to the Upton Cricket Club family and when you look at the number of girls playing in our junior set up (27% of all juniors) there is a definite need to have this facility for both the present and the future.

Whilst there has always been that belief in the talent at our disposal, I think it’s fair to say that the achievements of 2018 have surpassed all expectations. When you look at what the objectives were for this year (below), we comfortably surpassed these which is a tremendous start

• To provide regular competitive Ladies cricket for the 2018 season
 A league & cup double is a definite sign this was achieved
• To have a large enough player base to support the demands of playing league cricket
 A total of 21 players were used across the 14 games played

The prominence of this group was noticeable when we attended the Cheshire Women’s Cricket League dinner a few months back where we were one of about four clubs who scooped most of the team and individual awards. Yes, there is some fantastic individual talent in this group, but the team ethos is what shines through and is so encouraging.
Add to this the success of the ‘softball’ team in their various tournaments and it’s been a tremendous season.

So where do we go from here? Well looking at the objectives for 2019, three key objectives have been identified:

• To recruit new players with league cricket experience
• To push softball cricket more and see more players transition from the softball game into the league squad
• To consolidate their position in Division 2

I have the upmost confidence that in Matt Owen and Cath Williams stewardship this group will achieve all these objectives and continue to flourish.

GROUNDS
Very often underrated and unseen but you can pretty much call down at the Club any day of the week and you’d see somebody working away on the grounds to make sure everything is in the best possible condition. It’s always encouraging when you hear the positive comments that we receive from members, guests, opposition and officials – we truly do have tremendous facilities we should rightly be proud of. Testimony to this was in a recent conversation with the Chairman of the full Cheshire side who had heard great things about Upton CC and will be paying us a visit next season with a view to us hosting a Cheshire game in the near future.

Reflecting on the ‘official’ markings for our wickets and outfields for the 2018 season, which we may not always agree with as they can be subjective and based on the umpire’s interpretations, there are positives to be taken. Despite it being one of the hottest and dry seasons for years, this actually made the preparation of the pitches harder in some respects, a fact reflected by the average marks across the league for outfields dropping by 0.24pts and wickets dropping by 0.3pts. When you consider our average outfields marks (out of 20) actually went up from 17.0 to 18.91pts and wickets stayed the same (16.18pts) that’s a pretty good result.

Like everything we do, we look to improve, and I was delighted to receive notification that we are one of four clubs selected in Cheshire to have a professional report conducted on our outfields. The report will be very thorough and include soil samples being taken from which a host of recommendations will be put forward by one of the ECB’s advisors and be used to determine the key objectives for 2019. In terms of improving the wickets, a lot of that is determined by how good the end of season works are and in speaking with Les Atwell he commented that this years works were probably the best he’d seen which is encouraging for the 2019 season.

Looking at what we set out to achieve under the guise of ‘Grounds’ in 2019, three key objectives were set;

• To ensure there is sufficient and appropriate seating facilities for spectators
 This was achieved through the construction of the decking area which has proved very popular and created the space for about 30 extra seats
• To ensure the presentation of the garage is of the highest possible standard
 The plan was to paint the garage to match the tearoom but through a combination of factors this wasn’t completed this year but WILL be done next year
• To provide better playing facilities for all members
 This originally focussed on carrying out some levelling works on the squares, but this wasn’t possible due to the wet conditions at the end of last season. This will be reviewed in line with other works to determine whether it is still the most appropriate course of action. However, with our ground’s markings looking positive, the grounds have definitely improved.

Outside of these objectives, there was additional investment made in our ground’s facilities with the purchase of anew mower and covers which make us the envy of many clubs by being able to provide covers for both of our pitches.

Looking ahead, outside of whatever recommendations come out of the ECB outfields report we picked up some great feedback from the members survey which we will look to action around works needed to improve the nets and also a walkway in front of the players area.

Whilst a tremendous amount has been achieved, as I referenced at the start of this section, none of this “just” happens. The endless hours put in by John Lamb, John Scragg and all of the Grounds team is something we as a whole club should be extremely grateful for.

HOUSE
In a similar vein to work on the Grounds, the work on the ‘House’ go very much under the radar but are so valued. Ken Barrett and his team are down here 52 weeks of the year and what you walk in to each time you visit is down to them – thank you gentlemen.

Whilst we haven’t necessarily seen the dramatic changes we reported in 2017 with the refurbishment of the lounge area, there’s been plenty of work carried out ‘here and there’ and it becomes more a case of staying on top of things which were represented by the objectives set for 2018;

• To ensure the presentation of the bar/lounge area, tearoom & toilet facilities is of the highest possible standard
 We have employed a cleaner who comes in twice a week during the season and as and when needed out of the season
• To make the ‘link room’ more presentable
 The original plan was to partition off the area where the chairs are stored however upon reviewing that it was felt it wasn’t the right thing to do as it would make the link room more like a corridor and too claustrophobic
• To ensure the Tearoom building structure is maintained to protect it longer term
 We did plan to get both the internal & external girders treated and painted and it may still happen in the remaining 25 days of 2018, however if not it will be pushed into 2019

Looking ahead to the objectives for 2019, three key ones have been defined;

• To improve the WiFi coverage across the club
• To replace all the old fascia boards around the outside of the pavilion
• To improve the lighting in the tearoom and replace it with some more ambient lighting

Our club has become busier than ever, which is great from a revenue perspective but naturally throws up various challenges when you consider how much traffic passes through this facility;

• 22 weeks of the cricket season with probably in excess of 300 people passing through the club each week over a Friday, Saturday and Sunday
• 28 weeks of usage by the Wirral Table Tennis League three evenings a week
• 30 weeks of Sunday afternoon opening
• 52 weeks usage by Brixmania, Slimming World, Love Yoga and Popcats

Last year I totalled up this was about 500 hours of usage, and this year it’s probably grown to about 600 hours!

BAR/FUNCTIONS/SOCIAL
Last year I made reference to our ‘bar fairy’ who magically makes things happen, this year I think I’ll just stick to calling him Ian, but the same level of thanks goes out for the endless hours he spends down here making sure everything is in order to run an efficient and well-stocked bar.

As members of the Club my appeal goes out to try and alleviate that burden on him and it’s not a lot we ask of you. I remember many years ago as a younger member we had a bar rota in place which would see a group of us opening and locking up on specific nights of the week and whilst Ian might not require us to get back to that level of formality, my ask is that if anybody would be willing to help out as and when necessary they contact Ian please.
This challenge is highlighted when I look at the first couple of objectives we set for this year;

• To alleviate the current workload of the Bar Chairman to ensure we can accommodate the demands for external functions
• To ensure there is appropriate personnel to open (& lock) the club during week & weekends during the cricket season for use by the members

Whilst we’ve addressed these in a roundabout way, we can always do more and make Ian’s life easier.

The demands on the bar are put into context when you consider just how many functions, outside of the Club functions and ‘normal’ activities we have hosted. In total we hosted 32 ‘external’ events and when you consider we don’t hire the club out for 22 weeks of the year, it’s been a busy year! We are clearly a placer where people feel comfortable and want to utilise which is brilliant, but as mentioned does throw up its challenges when you consider we’ve had to turn down a staggering 79 requests for the use of our facilities.
I commented last year about my disappointment with the ‘marquee weekend’ and the future of the functions we put on as they were poorly supported.

It’s quite the opposite this year as we saw record numbers in attendance and some very good revenue earned for Club as well as everybody having a great time. Now the challenge is to top that next year!!!

Less than a couple of weeks ago over 100 guests enjoyed a truly marvellous ‘Hot Pot’ which epitomised everything that is great about this Club. It was superb to see all facets of the Club represented and with all the Senior Captains making speeches the real ‘One Club’ feel shone through. I mentioned it earlier, but the comments from Phil Defreitas summed up a really great night.

On top of that, during the course of the year we held some great Club functions which were kicked off with the Family Bar Games Night, a Charity Quiz Night, the Past Players & 1901 Club lunch and last but by no means least, our inaugural Ladies Day. The ‘ladies’ of Upton Cricket Club have been so prominent over the years and it was truly magical to see a packed house down here on that day.

Whilst all this is great, it is falling a small number of people to organise events, and to combat this we’ve looked to form a ‘social sub-committee’ with the aim of putting on just eight events throughout the year. The feedback you gave us from the survey suggested you wanted more functions and my plea is for you to step forward and help drive this forward, as to date, we’ve only had two people offer their services.

Looking ahead to the objectives for next year, well it’s more of the same, plus some staffing challenges to face as we look to have a regular core of staff that can be called upon. We’ll conduct a review of what we stock with the aim of providing the best possible bar facilities we can within our means.

To close this section, a reminder that there are 19 weeks before the season starts, and thanks to Paul Radcliffe, that means there’s 19 Sunday afternoons where the Club will be open for you to come down and enjoy the company of fellow members.

ADMINISTRATION/COMMUNICATIONS
Club administration – often the unseen element of what goes on, but so crucial for the Clubs development both on and off the pitch.

This year, as Rob Chapman will testify has been an extremely busy one with the major focus being on retaining our Clubmark accreditation. This isn’t merely a case of ‘ticking’ a few boxes, it’s a continued cycle of ensuring our house is in order and we have evidence to back it up. Rob and everyone involved have done a tremendous job in ensuring we passed with flying colours and can proudly display the Clubmark logo for (at least) another three years.

In January I was delighted to welcome Steve McCormick back on to the Governing Committee in the role of Communications Officer. Steve brings a wealth of experience from a variety of roles within the club, none least him being a former Chairman – that’s three former Chairman I have to advise me! What was also really encouraging was that with Steve, came his son Callum who sat in on a few meetings and it’s so encouraging to see our juniors wanting to get involved behind the scenes. Now given the tremendous year we’ve had, and all we’ve had to shout about, you’d like to thing getting some decent media coverage would be easy. That’s not the case as we’ve found it increasingly tough to get any traction with any of the local media outlets. I know Steve is working hard to improve this position as I’d love to see our name spread far and wide.

Another person who has worked tirelessly in his own inimitable style is our Fixture Secretary; John Winder. When you consider I stood here this time last year astounded at the fact there’d be no less than 133 games on the grounds, to report that figure increased to 137 this year is astonishing. For those without a calculator, that’s an average of 6.2 games per week! Thank you John.

I’ve mentioned it at various points in this report, but the members survey we conducted was invaluable. It’d be very easy to bury our heads in the sand and thing everything’s rosy, but that’s not my style, but most of all, I value the opinions of our members. I’m not going to go into the details of the survey here as they are online for you to view, but hopefully what you’ve seen from the output is we are committee based around action and value the feedback you’ve given.

It’s in this section where I can give you a quick update on our lease position. Many of you will know that we have less than two years left on the current lease and we have been proactive in trying to address this. We have engaged with a gentleman well versed in this field who has agreed to represent us in discussions with Leverhulme Estates. We’ve also spoken with Wirral Borough Council who do not foresee any changes to our current status as ‘recreation land’ in the near future and we will be looking to meet with Leverhulme Estates in January to discuss renewing the Lease.

FINANCE
Having been fortunate to see the annual accounts in advance, I won’t steal Richie’s thunder and tell you too much, but what I will say is that we have had a good year, and I don’t think you’ll find many amateur sports clubs with as healthy a set of accounts as we have. That is down to a number of initiatives, but also reflective of the way our esteemed Treasurer manages the Club’s finances.

There have been several key contributors to our accounts, not least the bar, but it would be remiss of me not to thank those organisations who sponsor or advertise with us. We are looking at areas to grow that into 2019 and I urge anybody with any contacts to speak to me about how they can get involved. One area I feel we haven’t maximised is the relationship with Love My Club. Most of us in a position whereby we need health and life insurance should look at what these guys offer because not only do they offer some great products, the Club receives a revenue share on the back of policies taken up. We have the potential to earn big money here, but we can’t do it without your involvement.

To conclude my reflection on the Club’s finances on a positive note, I was delighted we were able to offer a reduction to our playing members in their match day subs. We’re not talking a quid here or there, but we reduced these by half. In these ever-challenging times, what a great gesture and the mark of a club who are forward thinking.

COMMUNITY LINKS
One thing I’ve been really keen on developing during my tenure is our community links and we have forged some great relationships with local groups and I know from being around the village, we are viewed very favourably by many. This is something we have to keep working on and I think it’s evident by not only the huge matchday support we receive but also the growing number of local residents who have joined the club as Country members.
Our work within the community has been in full force this year with a variety of initiatives;

• Community residents meeting – we opened our doors for residents, the police and local councillors to meet to discuss some issues with anti-social behaviour and crime in the area
• School links – Matt Owen has delivered specific cricket coaching in four local primary schools
• Local sports clubs – we’ve opened the doors for AFC Hoylake to hold various coach education sessions in the tearoom and we’ve also lent New Brighton Rugby Club some of our ground’s equipment
• Open night – ahead of the season we held an open night for residents to pop in and meet club members. On the back of this we picked up quite a few new members
• Village flowers – we made a donation to the team who look after all the flowers in the village
• VSF heart screening – in January we will be putting on a heart screening in conjunction with Vital Signs Foundation.

Referencing the last point, we set the target of reaching £5,500 in total raised for VSF over the three years we have been in partnership with them and we have smashed through that and our current total stands at over £5,600. This event isn’t just for club members, it’s open to the whole community and to be able to put this on is absolutely amazing as we could be literally saving somebody’s life.

To conclude this section, I thought it was equally important we communicate with the community as a lot of what we do only gets seen by those associated with the club. Scattered around the room is a copy of the letter I distributed a few weeks ago, and we’ve had some really positive responses so far.

We will continue to foster these relationships, but above all else, remember that you as members are all ambassadors for Upton Cricket Club.

STRATEGIC PLANNING
Whilst some members of Governing may have looked at me as if I was a bit mad when I talked around the idea of writing a five-year strategic plan, the response I’ve had since that has hopefully put any doubts to bed.

I had an interesting call a couple of weeks back with a guy involved with a club in Kent who wanted to understand how we’d gone about devising our plan and putting it into action. This call lasted an hour and a half as we talked through the various ways to tackle this, but what it did do was replay to me my belief that something like this is fundamental to the successful running of any amateur sports club.

In a world where the competition for both people’s time and their finances is so high, we have to be on the front foot and run the club like a business. Now that can sound very formal, but ultimately if we run the club based on emotion we are in danger of failing. I won’t labour this point, but please rest assured we are running this club with the long-term future in mind.

I’ve made reference to it earlier, but you’ll have hopefully seen the results of the Members Survey that we ran during September which gave us a better than expected response level. Thank you to all those that participated, and the feedback you have given has gone into defining the rolling five-year plan.

As we’ve walked through each area of the club, I’ve called out the headline objectives, but the formal adoption of the 2019 to 2023 Strategic Plan will take place at Monday night’s Governing Committee meeting after which we will publish the full set of objectives in detail.

CONCLUSION
So, in conclusion – Upton Cricket Club continues to flourish, but the more astute of you will have noticed the logos of several other cricket clubs on the slides I’ve used tonight. These were all clubs who at one time enjoyed varying degrees of success but in the last year or so gone out of existence.

This is survival of the fittest, we can’t get complacent and revel in our glory. Myself and your committee won’t let that happen. We have a fantastic membership and I thank you firstly for your attendance tonight, and secondly for being members of this great club, but we all need to pull together to stay on the front foot.

Please remember, we are more than just a cricket club, we are a FAMILY.